more on British scientist calls US climate sceptics 'loonies'

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Robert C. Atkinson" <rca53 () columbia edu>
Date: September 26, 2005 9:27:16 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] British scientist calls US climate sceptics 'loonies'


Sir John should check with his government's experts.  From an  
interview with one of the Met Office in the Times (London) on Sept. 22:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,23889-1792386,00.html

What part does global warming have to play in these hurricanes?

Although this has been an exceptional year in terms of the number of  
storms, there have so far not been as many as there were in 1995,  
when we had 19. There have been similarly active seasons dating back  
decades. In both 1960 and 1961 there were two Category 5 storms in  
the Atlantic region and in 1933 there were 21 storms.

If you discount Ophelia, which grazed the Carolinas, three hurricanes  
have so far made landfall over the US this year. In 1886, records  
show that there were seven.

So there is no evidence that there are more storms when looked at  
globally, but what we may be seeing is an increase in the peak  
intensity of the strongest ones.

Two research papers published in the past month have suggested an  
increase in the number of category 4 and 5 storms.  Tropical cyclone  
activity is highly variable, often as a result of natural changes in  
the atmosphere and ocean, so although this evidence is a start, we  
are a long way from proving a connection.


David Farber wrote:


> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: September 25, 2005 11:43:05 PM EDT
> To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] British scientist calls US climate sceptics   
> 'loonies'
> Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com
>
>
> Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/23/climate_loonies/
>
> British scientist calls US climate sceptics 'loonies'
>
> By Lucy Sherriff (lucy.sherriff at theregister.co.uk)
> Published Friday 23rd September 2005 20:18 GMT
> The chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution,  
> Sir  John Lawton, has called climate change deniers in the US  
> "loonies",  and says global warming is to blame for the  
> increasingly strong  hurricanes being spawned in the Atlantic.
>
> In an interview with The Independent, Lawton said that global  
> warming  is "very likely" the cause of increasingly intense  
> hurricanes, in  line with computer simulations.
>
> He told the paper: "If this [the arrival of Hurricane Rita] makes  
> the  climate loonies in the States realise we've got a problem,  
> some good  will come out of a truly awful situation."
>
> Lawton was speaking as Hurricane Rita is growing in strength in  
> the  Gulf of Mexico and the region prepares for another battering.
>
> NASA has closed the Johnson Space Center in Houston in preparation   
> for the storm, and has evacuated personnel from sites damaged by   
> Katrina. At the Michoud Assembly Facility, a skeleton crew of just   
> forty remains to ride out the storm.
>
> Meanwhile, residents of Houston are evacuating the city. Traffic   
> queues hundreds of kilometres long are forming as fears grow that   
> Houston could suffer the same kind of onslaught that caused such   
> devastation in New Orleans last month.
>
> Lawton said that with two such large storms hitting the Gulf coast  
> in  such quick succession, the Bush administration should re- 
> evaluate its  position on climate change. He said if the "extreme  
> sceptics" in the  US could be persuaded to change their minds, that  
> would be "a  valuable outcome [of] a horrible mess".
>
> [snip]
>
> Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
>
>
>
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